Time, training camp and the talents of Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday will tell. But the point is the Bulls now have five young pieces covering each position — four coming from the Jimmy Butler trade, one from dealing Nikola Mirotic — and projected maximum salary-cap space for either this summer or next.

Unlike last season, the Bulls will be trying to win games next season. Executive vice president John Paxson has said he can’t live through another season of tanking, er, player development. But the Bulls very well could be back in the draft lottery next year, which would net another nice young player.

But the NBA is about star power. Much of it resides in the Bay Area, but some of the younger variety is developing in Boston and the biggest star, LeBron James, is set to choose his next employer in July free agency.

Where’s the Bulls’ star?

“You hope you draft players who can become stars,” Paxson said. “We believe Lauri has the potential, (but) he has a long way to go.

“When you get your asset base up, you can wait for opportunities to present themselves, maybe in a trade situation or (with) cap room and a free-agency situation. Those are other avenues, but right now drafting well is the stage we’re in.”

Indeed, it seemed fitting the Bulls selected Carter with the seventh pick, the same slot at which they acquired Kirk Hinrich in Paxson’s first draft in 2003. Similar to that rebuild — which in 2004 produced first-round pick Ben Gordon, trade acquisition and lottery pick Luol Deng and second-round pick Chris Duhon — the Bulls are intent on building through the draft, with the occasional free-agent signing — Andres Nocioni back then — sprinkled in.

That era’s teams never advanced past the second round of the playoffs, mostly because they never produced a transcendent star. A final attempt to add one via free agency in Ben Wallace produced a first-round series victory but ultimately was a short-lived experiment. Paxson traded Wallace during Wallace’s second season in Chicago.

The core of this team feels somewhat similar to that era, which featured a jump from 23-59 in 2003-04 to 47-35 the following season. Three straight playoff berths — but only one series victory — followed.

“We addressed two positions of need and got two players we feel fit us and (will) help us grow, hopefully quickly,” Paxson said about Thursday night’s picks. “Even though we’re going to be patient, maybe (we can) grow more quickly than some teams in the past in these rebuilding situations. When you look at where we were a year ago, we feel we’ve added five really good young core pieces to build around.

“And we still have the core of our team intact. We’re anticipating the young guys we have on this roster currently — Kris, Zach, Lauri, Denzel (Valentine), Bobby Portis (and) down the list — a lot will depend on their growth as players. We feel these two (new) players complement the roster we have very well.”

Beyond the fact it takes two teams to consummate a trade, that’s why the Bulls didn’t trade up even a few spots to try to draft Marvin Bagley III, Jaren Jackson Jr. or Trae Young. Not only did they like Carter, trading up would have cost a future first-round pick.

Such a sacrifice doesn’t square with the patient approach to the rebuild, which almost certainly will feature the Bulls focusing more on free agency in 2019 than this summer.

The Bulls also would like to remind that it’s way too early to judge Carter and Hutchison. Perhaps one can become a star.

“In Wendell’s case, physically he looks like a man so maybe you don’t see upside, (but) we think there is upside to him,” general manager Gar Forman said. “When you look at his analytics — we have 15 years of analytics in the draft — he’s extremely high as far as efficiency.”

Added Paxson: “He didn’t get to showcase so much of his game when Bagley reclassified and then signed at Duke late. A lot of their offense would have run through Wendell this year had Marvin not gone there. The young man sacrificed a lot to be a good teammate. A lot of that speaks to who he is.”

Carter just turned 19. Hutchison is 22 and a rare four-year college player who made a huge jump between his sophomore and senior seasons at Boise State.

“His ability to rebound and make plays are things that are really valuable in our game today, especially (with) the way we want to play with pace and up-tempo,” Paxson said. “He fits. We think he can put it on the floor and create. His shot is getting better and better.”

Again, time will tell if the Bulls get better and better. Those Hinrich-Gordon-Deng teams spectacularly flamed out with a 33-49 season in 2007-08 that led to the Bulls winning the draft lottery.

They selected Derrick Rose, the type of transcendent star the Bulls hope they either have in the making or eventually can acquire.